The Tech Trek

Key takeaways: Don’t be too technology-focused without identifying the customer value it should provide The “connecting tissue” isn’t always obvious Conversations around the “art of the possible” Meet: Kishore Aradhya is currently the Head of Data Engineering, AI & Data at Bose. If you have any questions for Kishore, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karadhya/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Team behavior and measuring impact Looking at a 3 sprint rolling average to gauge velocity Keeping the workplace fun by focusing on skill mastery and being given autonomy Modeling behavior on core values You want people to be truthful and speak up Meet: Mark DiAntonio is Vice President of Engineering at HqO, overseeing engineering operations and accelerating the development and delivery of innovative products. With twenty years of engineering expertise, he has a proven track record of building and leading successful engineering teams with a focus on innovation, agile processes, and great teamwork. Prior to HqO, Mark held senior-level positions at Promoboxx, DraftKings Inc., Warner Brothers Games, and Arthur J. Gallagher. During his time at DraftKings, Inc., Mark served as the Director of Engineering for Fantasy Sports, and then as VP, Head of Product, Media. In these roles, Mark successfully led his team through a period of extreme growth while also evolving their process to changing compliance and regulatory landscape. During his time at WB Games, Mark has been credited on game titles in the Warner Brothers Games digital platform group including Batman Arkham City, Gotham City Impostors, Mortal Kombat, Injustice, Shadows of Mordor, Cartoon Universe, Lord of the Rings Online, D&D online, and Infinite Crisis. If you have any questions for Mark, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-diantonio-578687a/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Look at a job’s deliverables to find the right hire The new data analyst needs to understanding core CS concepts Don’t let the process define the hire If you have any questions for Andy, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/awowens/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Good data pipeline, “bad data” problem Investing in data observability - it will cost you one way or the other Being proactive vs reactive Data engineering and data product manager would be best to own observability Meet:  Barr Moses is CEO & Co-Founder of Monte Carlo, a data reliability company backed by Accel, GGV, Redpoint, and other top Silicon Valley investors. Previously, she was VP Customer Operations at Gainsight, a management consultant at Bain & Company, and served in the Israeli Air Force as a commander of an intelligence data analyst unit. Barr graduated from Stanford with a B.Sc. in Mathematical and Computational Science. If you have any questions for Barr, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrmoses/ https://twitter.com/BM_DataDowntime I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Ramifications of waiting to implement security Consider alignment before jumping to tools Look within your current team to see if skills are currently covered Tradeoffs of allocating resources to build tools vs buying Meet:  Johnathan Hunt is the VP of Security for GitLab, an open-source code repository and collaborative software development platform for large DevOps and DevSecOps projects.  He has been in the InfoSec and cybersecurity space for more than 20 years, and he has worked across several verticals including SaaS, financial, telecommunications, healthcare, government, and more. Johnathan is particularly passionate about bug bounty, supply chain security, and DevSecOps.  He has conducted many conference keynotes, podcasts, interviews, and blog series on these topics.  He holds numerous security certifications, has a master’s degree in information systems, and is currently pursuing a second master’s degree at Harvard University. If you have any questions for Johnathan, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnathanhunt/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Build vs buy in the security industry Focusing on speed to get value out of tooling Avoiding tools that tie you into a rigid structure Carrying over Anwar’s software engineering background to security Meet: Anwar Reddick is a 15+ year computing technology veteran. He started his career in software engineering and computer science research and quickly pivoted into information security. He has security experience doing applied research and development, defending business technology assets, supporting business development, and leading compliance programs. After working in multiple verticals, contexts, and tech stacks, he has found a niche managing security teams and programs for cloud-native SMB technology product firms. He holds BS Computer Science and MS Information Security degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology. If you have any questions for Anwar, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anwarreddick I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Aligning the security roadmap to business objectives Preparing for the initial requirements  assessment Making sure you understand what is important to the business and not just 1-2 people Assessing internal capabilities Iterating and collaborating on the roadmap Coming into the job with a blank slate view Meet:  Noah Beddome is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Opendoor, the leading digital real estate platform, where he is responsible for protecting the data and technology infrastructure as well as overseeing Opendoor’s information security program and IT. Noah has more than a decade of experience working in information security in enterprise and government environments. Most recently, he served as VP of Security Engineering and interim CISO for Datadog. Prior to that, Noah worked as the Practice Director for Strategic Infrastructure Services (SIS) at NCC Group, where he built and led the SIS practice. Noah began his career in security consulting, conducting assessments and penetration testing for several firms. He also served as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years. If you have any questions for Noah, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-beddome-6b794940/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Building and improving data quality through more testing Dividing work among geographically remote teams Quality decline as a symptom of team burnout Honing in on understanding the team's emotional and mental health Meet:  Josh Scherbenski is the VP of Data at Zeus Living, where he leads the analytics, machine learning, data engineering, and pricing teams. His teams are located here in the US and remotely in Singapore. He has more than a decade of experience working in the data science and engineering fields where he’s developed multiple data architectures and machine learning data products from end-to-end. Prior to Zeus, Josh worked for NASA as a program manager and space systems engineer. After leaving NASA, he went on to work for Google and a couple of other startups, including Glassdoor, where he was the company’s first data scientist. He has an MBA and a Master’s of Engineering in Space Systems. If you have any questions for Josh, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshscherbenski/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Importance of having context around the greater pieces of what the business is doing Staying engaged in the business vision post-onboarding The 1-on-1 is the employees time Transparency helps employees stay aligned to the company vision Meet:  Jason Wilcox is head of technology for automotive services at Jerry. Jason leads teams using artificial intelligence and machine-learning-powered customer flows to develop software that makes managing vehicle financing and products easier. Jason brings 20 years of expertise in software design, development, information security, data security, data analytics, and subject matter knowledge in fintech to Jerry. A proven people leader, Jason was most recently Chief Technology Officer at RefiJet, where he led software development, information technology, and analytics teams. He’s also held leadership roles at LCS Financial Services, LenderLive, and Chess. Jason holds bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering and physiological sciences from Marquette University. A lifelong learner, he also holds a master’s degree in strategic and competitive intelligence from the American Military University, a master’s degree in predictive analytics from Northwestern University, and a master’s degree in business administration from the Quantic School of Business and Technology. If you have any questions for Jason, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilcoxjasone/ https://twitter.com/jwilcoxdata https://amioraretheotherscrazy.substack.com/ I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.

Key takeaways: Bringing modern tech thinking to a legacy company Moving away from a FAANG to a non-tech company Ability to move the needle Building agile pods aligned to company objectives Adjusting compensation and hiring strategies Meet:   Brian Pivar is the Senior Director of Data and Analytics at Kraft Heinz.  He has been at Kraft Heinz for over 2.5 years and is responsible for building out the data science, and business intelligence engineering teams from the ground up.  Previous to Kraft Heinz, he led the data and analytics org at Amazon Restaurants (think food delivery for Amazon...like a Door Dash or Uber Eats).  Previous to that he spent about 3 years at Uber in various strategy, analytics, and leadership roles.  Brian Graduated from Purdue with a degree in finance and a minor in computer science. If you have any questions for Brian, please feel free to reach out via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pivar/ https://twitter.com/pivar I hope you enjoyed the episode, the best place to connect with me is on Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand). Please send me a message if you would like me to cover certain topics with future guests.